Art!

I have recently picked up the art of drawing! Art has always been a strong passion of mine. However throughout my entire life I have been intimidated by the act of drawing. I can normally pick up something and it doesn't take me too long to figure it out, however I feel like drawing has been the hardest thing in the world for me to grasp. I even do good at some other styles of art such as sculpting. I suppose that a big difference is that I am really good at 3d art but have difficulty at making 2d things on surfaces of paper. However I have spent hours of my life looking at speed paints online and other art sites. But recently I decided that I would tackle art and the past two years I have been filling up sketchbook after sketchbook. And that is even when I decided that I really want to get into the computer science animation. Within the last year my art has been on on an up rise, especially this semester as I have taken several art classes on campus, with drawing and 3d modeling.

 The figure sketching class that I am currently in is hands down the most fun class I have ever taken as a student here at BYU, or even all of my school together. It's a really simple class as well, we come in for 3 hours and sketch live models. Anyone else who may be a student here on campus might be interested to know that there is a three hour open lab for figure sketching on Fridays from 9 to 12 in the afternoon. I suppose honestly that I get stressed out a lot and deal with anxiety on a regular basis, but there has been nothing so far that has proven more relaxing than simply sitting down with a project in hand, even if that involves picking up a pencil or piece of chalk, going at it! Already within the past couple months my skill has exponentially increased majorly. I am constantly searching for new ideas and ways of practice, as well as study the arts of other individuals!

craft and cosplay

I really do love giving everything and try in life, but not so many people who are not close to me see my "nerdy side."I love artwork, but that is a given knowing that I am studying computer science and animation, but I really love to run around to the different conventions and love seeing cosplayers! I am one myself. I have never really been into making them my entire life, but after coming home from my lds mission I have made it more of a goal to do so annually. When I came home from my mission the first year half of the year was already over so I spent that time taking guns, either from myself or from my friends, and painting them. And it definitely helped me over for a while.

 However last year I've had a lot more time so I got into the actual cosplay costume making. Last summer was definitely the most fun one that I have created so far, I made a random little fox mascot costume from a character that I personally made up just for the project. It actually received a lot of positive feedback from the people that I encountered during last fall's Comic Con as well as the comic con I attended just 2 weeks ago. 

This was it project that I also specially enjoyed because that was the first time that I've ever worked with sewing or cutting out foam to mold into shapes. I have a bad start this year as I have dedicated myself more to drawing and animating, that and I have 4 hour long art classes four nights each week! Hopefully I can get another great start this summer but I am still looking for ideas on what I should do. I am thinking of making a Commander Shepard cosplay from the mass effect trilogy! I am still a little unsure but I am wanting to keep it in the science fiction/space marine category. I suppose that I really fell into crafting when I realized how much of a relaxation it is. That and I go crazy when I waste time watching TV or Netflix! I still love wasting away my time watching those but it feels like I must have something in hand so I usually turn to crafting something or drawing while watching the shows. Of course when it comes to making a costume I have watched through many many seasons of TV shows. Not until within the last couple weeks did I acquire sewing machine so when I sewed up my last costume I must have spent between a hundred fifty to two hundred hours with the foaming and the hand sewing and everything! But I find it all worth it because it is a lot of fun. Also another great thing I enjoy about doing this is finding ways that I can use the things I create in order to help other people enjoy life. Sometimes while I am at conventions I have people come up handing over volunteering opportunities! During the past couple months I was able to take costumes that I made and do voluntary service entertaining at Make A Wish Foundation as well doing a couple Park charity events, doing some entertainment and raising awareness for different diseases.

 It is a great joy when you find ways of reaching out and doing service while at the same time doing the exact same things that you enjoy, so in the end I really feel like I am just playing and bringing out the inner child within myself! It may come off as a little strange for the average college student, but in the end I just enjoy being myself! That and what else is there to do why I wasted my life watching Netflix ;)

Nature

I cannot mention this enough, I love the outdoors! Everything about nature is amazing, from the trees, the animals, the mountains, everything! I love it all!! There is nothing that makes me feel more alive! Every time that I feel overwhelmed in school or feel like I am being drowned in the oceans of stress I get outdoors and remember how amazing the world feels. I do love indulging myself behind my the screen of my computer while working on animations, but whenever I am not I am most likely outside. I will jog most nights of the week, and I try to make it on hikes every weekend. 

This last summer a friend and I tried hitting up a new mountain every single week. And funny enough I hiked Timpanogos for the first time! It's the highest mountain peak from around here. It was great, but I would have loved it more if I did not start the hike at 12, midnight. We hiked to the peak and all over the place and by the end we put in 14 hours of pure hiking! We made many more canyons over the summer, fall and winter as well. We even started collecting our own backpacking gear, and hopefully this next summer we will be able to get out on week long backpacking hikes! It is also our goal to invest ourselves in rock climbing gear. It has always been one of the goals of life for me to  get involved in. Then on top of that I just love taking weeks to go camping during the summer, and when winter comes around it is great to go skiing and snowboarding. Sure I will admit that I spend way too much time on computers and gaming. But if I had to choose between the two there is no doubt in my mind that I would close myself off to nature. Maybe I can even get out with hang gliding or bungee jumping for the first time this summer as well, we'll see ;)